Manchester City v Arsenal Betting Tips [26 April 2023]

Matchday 33 in the English Premier League sees a potential title decider when second-place Manchester City host league leaders Arsenal. Despite holding a five point lead in the standings coming into this one, the oddsmakers have the defending champions Manchester City as massive 1.25 favorites to win their third straight Premier League crown. This is due to Guardiola’s men having a two game-in-hand advantage over his former pupil Mikel Arteta’s Gunners. Manchester City would go top of the table with a slim one point lead should they take full advantage and win both of their extra games. The result leaves Arsenal likely needing to win at the Etihad in this clash if they are to withstand the coming onslaught from this red-hot City side. Looking at the remaining fixtures, Manchester City clearly have the easier run-in as Arsenal have to face Chelsea, Newcastle away and a red-hot Brighton side. The potentially trickiest fixture for City is likely going to be Brighton away, although they will have Champions League matches that will demand much of their focus.

This match comes at near the perfect time for Man City as they are in arguably their best form of the season. The hosts have now won 11 of their last 12 across all competitions and are on an unbeaten stretch of 16 matches. Their last outing was a comfortable 3-0 home win over Sheffield United to progress to the final of the FA Cup where they will square off against Manchester United. Manchester City have been scoring goals for fun lately and have netted 31 goals in their last eight matches. During that eight match stretch, only once did the Citizens fail to score at least three goals, which occurred in a 1-1 draw against Bayern in the Champions League quarter-final return leg. 

Arsenal face a massive challenge if they are to deal City only their second home loss in the Premier League campaign. The oddsmakers have the Gunners as firm underdogs, coming in at a price of 5.50 to earn the three pints here. The last three weeks could well have sealed Arsenal’s fate after they were forced to settle for three consecutive draws against Liverpool, West Ham and, most recently, Southampton. Arsenal showed good fight to come back from 3-1 down against the Saints, netting two goals in the final two minutes to walk away with a point but fans will be bitterly disappointed as it was a match that they should have easily won. Still, the stretch of draws means Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 12 matches in 90 minutes across all competitions. The visitors also hold the best away record in the Premier League with 11 wins from their 16 trips.

Goals look to be on the docket here given how well these two teams have performed on the attacking side of the ball this season. Man City and Arsenal are the two highest-scoring teams in the Premier League with 78 and 77 goals, respectively, and have each been in excellent goal scoring form. It would serve Arsenal well to come out with attacking intent as they desperately need to win this match. Both teams should be able to create chances here and it’s likely that each get on the scoresheet. Ultimately, one of them should be able to find the extra goal to put this one over the total. Our Manchester City vs Arsenal prediction: over 2.5 goals